The Act of Killing (2012)
Genre: Documentary
Duration: 115 minuten / 159 minuten (director's cut)
Country:
Denmark / Norway / United Kingdom
Directed by: Joshua Oppenheimer and Christine Cynn
Starst: Anwar Congo, Herman Koto and Syamsul Arifin
IMDb score:
8,2 (44.939)
Releasedate: 1 November 2012
The Act of Killing plot
"A story of killers who win, and the society they build."
In a country where killers are hailed as heroes, the makers of The Act of Killing challenge death squad leaders to recreate their roles in the genocide in movie scenes. The result is a feverish cinematic dream; a disturbing journey that takes us deep into the imagination of these Indonesian mass murderers. At the same time, a shocking and banal regime of corruption and impunity is being exposed.
Reviews & comments
Insignificance
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- 3220 messages
- 5589 votes
About cinema gangsters, the best murder techniques and the frivolous way in which the perpetrators tell and portray it. Shocking, yes, and an opportunity so unique that you can't pass it up, but, bizarre as it may be, over time I've had enough of those silly plays. With the exception of the one in the village with all those people, it's still pretty intense.
It also seems a bit at the expense of the focus of the docu. Through Anwar, Oppenheimer seems to want something with the psychology of a mass murderer, but I have my doubts about him and how that goes. Doubts in the end too. Herman is an even bigger idiot. It gets better when it is broadened and it involves others.
The logic behind it is already drunk (something with cruel), it gets even crazier when someone from the government gets involved tactically. Astonishing how openly spoken, even bragged about the most filthy and corrupt things that have happened and are still going on. More powerful than much of what Anwar is doing.
Translated from Dutch · View original
tbouwh
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- 5865 messages
- 5487 votes
''The Act of Killing is no political essay, but a cinematic recollection of memory; and yet we are talking about truth claims. Is this the eternal curse that keeps haunting the process of framing 'documentaries'?''
An essay on art, morality and guilt in Oppenheimer's chilling documentary (2012): click
Translated from Dutch · View original
Fisico
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- 10039 messages
- 5398 votes
Disconcerting documentary that instead of so often allows the victims to give their full voice to the perpetrators. Whoever thinks he can find a shred of remorse or regret is coming back from a bare journey. What's more, the crimes (against humanity) are simply condoned and praised. What do you want in a regime in which all sense of norms is lost and crimes go unpunished. How can you expect people to see that they are “wrong”?
So many years later one would expect some mildness and reflection. The hateful emotions in the heat of battle have been over for decades, but nothing could be further from the truth. People are just proud of it. Those kind of re-enactment scenes only confirm this.
And what a dirty role for the US in all this, not only here, but also in various South American and Central American countries with their fight against communism during the Cold War. Bah!
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